Fighting Time
by Beka Alcott
Summary: A fledgling alliance with an advanced race preceeds strange happenings at the SGC, with devastating results for one member of SG1. Character death, only not really. All will be revealed. please R&R! SJ ish. Eventually.
1. Tragic discovery

**Fighting Time**

_**Disclaimer: ** I own nothing but my own obsession with SG-1 and fanfiction. Alas._

_**Summary: **A fledgling alliance with an advanced race preceeds strange happenings at the SGC, with devastating results for one member of SG1. SJ, and character death, only not really. All will be revealed. please R&R! _

* * *

"But what does it mean, Jack? There must be a _reason_!" Daniel insisted passionately as he walked through the halls of the SGC with Jack.

"Why?" Jack asked bluntly. "Why must there be? Can't we, just this once, find a planet that wants to give us all we've ever wanted_without_ some hidden agenda?"

Daniel frowned at him. "You aren't the least bit suspicious?"

Jack sighed. "I'm keeping my eyes and ears open, Daniel, but so far I don't see anything but some nice folk who want to help out."

"You aren't curious what they want the uranium for?"

"Carter's looking into it. If she finds something fishy, I'm sure she'll let the rest of us know." They stepped into an elevator, Jack punching the button for level 27.

"Even though we know full well it can be used to make bombs?" Daniel persisted. Jack turned to face him, exasperated.

"Who would they bomb? They don't have any enemies, for cryin' out loud."

"Maybe they do, and they're hiding it. We haven't known them long enough to know for sure."

"We're going slow, Daniel. What do you want from me?"

Daniel sighed, and followed Jack out of the elevator and towards the briefing room. It was going to be a long and difficult briefing.

* * *

Jack drummed his fingers on the steering wheel absently, in time with the beat of the radio. Tonight was team night, this time at Sam's. He smirked as he imagined her, running round the house like a headless chicken trying to get everything ready. Okay, so she wasn't quite that bad anymore, but the first time they'd done this at her place over six years ago, it had been hilarious watching her climbing the walls to be the perfect hostess. 

He glanced at his watch as he turned into her road. Huh, ten minutes early. Maybe he could help with the food, or something. She was cooking for them tonight, trying to put an end to the idea that she couldn't. While he had utmost faith in his Second's ability in the field and in the lab, he was definitely going to let Daniel try the food before his tongue touched it. Not that he'd let her catch him at it. Sam Carter knew how to hold a grudge.

He pulled up outside her house and checked his watch again, before glancing up.

Her front door was open.

Frowning, Jack's eyes ran rapidly over the rest of his field of vision, out of habit more than anything else. He'd seen enough in his line of work to know that something small being out of place was often a sign of something larger being wrong.

Without thinking, he grabbed his gun from the glove compartment and jumped out of the truck, still scanning the area for signs of danger as he walked up the path to the house. He couldn't see anything wrong beyond the open front door, but something was still niggling at him, an insistent kernel of dread crawling up his spine and gathering like a weight in his chest.

He pushed the front door aside quickly, covering the front hall with his weapon, immediately noticing the coat-stand lying across the floor. He wanted to call out for Carter, but military training kept him silent. He advanced into the living room . . .

. . . and dropped his gun.

Time stood still.

Sam lay on her back in the living room in a pool of blood, a bullet hole in her forehead, eyes staring vacantly.

Jack's legs had locked. He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe.

Sam laying there, in blood . . .

Sam, dead . . .

When the concept finally sank in, his legs unlocked, and he dropped to his knees at her side, not caring that her blood was seeping through the knees of his pants. He put a hand to her cheek.

It was cold.

The world span and lurched, and then everything was black.

* * *

_So, what did you think? Don't worry, this isn't an anti-Carter fic. (She's my absolute favourite character, in fact :-P)_ _Please R&R!_

_Beka _


	2. Only dreaming?

**_Fighting Time - part 2_**

_Here's the second chapter - be warned, it's about to become a little confusing._****

* * *

"He's coming round."

Jack blinked his eyes open, then shut them tight again when a bright light pierced his retina.

"Ow." He complained.

"Jack? How do you feel?"

Daniel. That was Daniel. Daniel's here.

"Daniel." He called out groggily.

"I'm here, Jack." Daniel's image leaned over him.

"Hey." Jack said.

"How do you feel, Colonel?" Doctor Fraiser's voice asked. He blinked again, trying to get a clear view of his surroundings and clear his head.

"I've been better."

Then it hit him.

"Carter –" He couldn't go on.

"Yes sir?"

There was a pause while his brain wrapped itself around that voice. Carter's voice.

"No, she's . . ."

Sam exchanged a worried look with Doctor Fraiser. "I'm what, sir?"

"Dead. You're . . . you were dead." Jack turned his head, and saw her standing there, whole and alive.

"No . . ." he whispered. He sat up, ignoring the lurching of his stomach, and yanked out the wires that connected him to the machines by his bed.

"Colonel!" Janet protested, gathering up the discarded wires. They all stood back a little, alarmed, as Jack stood unsteadily and stared at Sam.

"What the hell is going on here?" He asked, still staring at Sam.

Sam glanced at the others uneasily. "We found you unconscious in the locker room, sir. Do you remember what happened?"

"I . . . you . . . I drove to your house, for the team night, and you were . . . I found you dead."

As one, Daniel, Teal'c and Janet turned to Sam.

"Major Carter appears to be very much alive." Teal'c said, one eyebrow raised as he looked at Jack. Sam shrugged at Daniel and Janet, who were still looking at her questioningly.

"Well, I can see that _now_, but before, she was dead."

"No I wasn't." Sam argued.

"Carter, you were lying in a pool of blood with a bullet hole in your head!" Jack said, losing his temper.

"Jack, are you sure you didn't dream it after you passed out?" Daniel asked quietly.

Jack rounded on him angrily. "It was _real_, Daniel!"

"And yet –" Daniel gestured towards Sam, who still looked a little alarmed at the turn of events.

Jack gazed at her, giving up the argument and revelling instead in the simple fact that she was alive. "Yeah."

Janet cleared her throat. "Colonel, if you wouldn't mind . . ." she waved him back into bed, and he complied reluctantly. "Your blood tests came back clear, but there's an abnormality in your MRI that I'm a little concerned about."

Jack raised his eyebrows as he swung his legs back onto the bed. "Oh?"

"You're also having an . . . unusual effect on my electrical equipment."

"We had to use equipment with special shielding to counteract the electrical interference your body was generating when we first brought you in." Sam explained. "The effects have lessened now, but there is still an undercurrent of electrical activity." She brought her wristwatch close to the colonel. He watched as the seconds ceased to tick over, and grabbed it from her, tapping the face of it and shaking it.

"Odd." He acknowledged. He looked around the assembled group. "So what is this? Alien technology? Some scientific voodoo?"

They all looked to Janet and Sam, who looked uncertainly at each other. "We're not sure yet." Janet admitted. "But – we're working on it."

"We should get back to it." Sam added, and she and Janet left.

Daniel and Teal'c moved closer to Jack's bedside. "So . . . you saw Sam killed." Daniel said quietly.

"Not exactly. She was dead before I got there."

"You did not see her assailant?" Teal'c asked.

Jack shook his head. "You think it was real?"

Daniel and Teal'c exchanged glances. "I don't know, Jack. Right now it seems more likely you just dreamed it, but . . ."

"Circumstances are suspicious. What with me turning into a human magnet."

"Is it possible this was a vision of the future?" Teal'c suggested gently.

Jack shuddered. "God, I hope not."

"Maybe we should suggest it though, just in case." Daniel said, glancing at the door Sam and Janet had just left through.

"Yeah." Jack said quietly, nodding.

* * *

_So . . . Sam's alive again! I'd love to get your thoughts on this story (not only what you think of it, but where you think it might be going . . . I currently have two ideas and I'm not sure which to go with, so I'd love to know what you guys think could be going on!)_

_Beka _


	3. Not again

**_Fighting Time - part 3_**

_Hey guys! I'm returning to this story! No promises on how regular the chapters will be, as real life and exams and essays are about to start interfering ...grrrr. But I'll try to keep it going. Please review, I love hearing what you guys think.  
_

_

* * *

_Jack frowned at the clock on the wall. He hadn't thought before to ask the time, but now that he knew it ...

It was 11.20 in the morning. He guessed it was possible that he'd dreamt the entire day, if indeed it had been a dream, but still . . . it felt, wrong, somehow. Like he'd missed something important.

Daniel and Sam came back in. "Hey Jack."

"Hey kids. What's the verdict?"

Sam shook her head. "We're stumped, sir. We can't figure out how or why your body is emitting a electromagnetic field, or how its related to your other ... experiences. I'm going to run some tests in my lab."

"I feel fine." Jack agreed. "So can I get out of here now?"

Daniel and Sam exchanged a look. "Janet's agreed to let you out for the briefing, but then you have to come back." Daniel told him.

Jack was about to argue, when something hit him. "What briefing?"

Daniel frowned. "The briefing we were supposed to have at 1000 hours. About the Grevians."

"But we already had that briefing. You yapped on for hours about us not knowing enough about them, hidden agendas, yada yada."

Sam frowned. "Sir . . . we haven't had a briefing about the Grevians yet. We only met them yesterday. We got back late last night and General Hammond ordered the briefing for ten hundred hours today."

"But I was planning on raising the issue of our trade agreement. I think we should know more about what they want the uranium for before blindly trusting them with so much of it." Daniel added.

Jack frowned at him. "Yeah. That's what you said, at length, at the briefing."

"The briefing we haven't had yet . . ." Daniel trailed off with eyebrows raised.

Jack looked from Daniel to Sam, frustrated. "What the hell is going on here?"

Sam smiled nervously. "That's what we hope to find out."

* * *

"Do we know what happened to Colonel O'Neill yet?" Asked General Hammond as he entered the briefing room.

"Well sir, we're still not exactly sure. The Colonel thinks he may be stuck in another time loop." Sam said, glancing at Jack who was sitting beside her.

"How else could I remember a briefing we haven't _had_ yet?" Jack interjected.

"However, last time this happened there was a clear cause – the activation of the time machine on P4X 639. This time . . . we can't see a trigger. It seems unlikely that the Colonel just spontaneously began looping again." Sam said, frowning.

"Dr Fraiser says the medical tests showed slight chemical imbalances, and she still can't account for the electrical effect." Daniel added. "Last time when Jack was . . . _looping_, there were no medical abnormalities."

"That doesn't prove anything." Jack argued. "The fact is I _could_ be right, and if I am, we need to find out how Carter was killed."

The others sitting at the briefing table shifted uncomfortably. "Tell me again what you think happened – or is going to happen – her." Hammond ordered.

Jack sighed. "I was driving to Carter's for the team night. The one that was happening _tonight_. When I got there, the door was open. I went in, and found her in a pool of blood on her living room floor, with a bullet between the eyes. That's the last thing I remember before waking up in the infirmary."

"General Hammond, perhaps it would be wise to station a surveillance crew at Major Carter's home." Teal'c suggested.

"Just to be on the safe side." Daniel added, nodding.

* * *

_Once again, please review! And I really hope you like it. Sorry its so short, I'm going to try and write longer chapters in future.  
_

_Beka  
_


	4. Carter's discovery

**_Fighting Time - part 4_**

_Yes, it is another horribly short chapter. I finally got into the zone ... and then promptly ran out of time for writing. I'm really sorry. Also, I probably should have said this at the beginning, but I'm going to be killing off Sam a lot in this story, so if its going to disturb you, don't read it. I'll try not to be too gory or graphic about, otherwise I might have to up the rating. Don't worry, I like Sam, so you can guarantee she'll be alright in the end. This story is mainly about messing with Jack's head. I know, I'm mean. I wanted to do something marginally darker than my normal only mildly angsty style.  
_

* * *

Jack hovered in the doorway of Carter's lab, watching as she fiddled with something on her workbench. He just stood there for a moment, drinking in the sight of her alive. He was sure the image of her dead with a bullet hole in her forehead would haunt him for a very long time.

"Sir? Did you need something?" Carter's voice broke him out of his reverie, and he realised she'd caught him staring.

"No, I was just passing." He said, walking in and taking a seat on the other side of her workbench, absently picking up a doohickey on her desk and fiddling with it.

"Are you feeling alright?" She asked when he didn't offer anything more, her eyes never leaving the rather expensive electro-magnet he was playing with.

"I'm fine." He looked up at her suddenly. "I'm not screwing with your electronics again am I?"

"Actually, that's what this is for." She said, gesturing at the mess of wires and doodads on her desk. "That thing you're holding is an electromagnet. I want to figure out how the electrical current in your body has altered, and test for any residual radiation."

Jack winced. "That sounds … fun."

Sam smiled indulgently. "Don't worry sir, it won't take long. You literally just have to sit there."

She attached some crocodile clips to something that resembled a thimble, and reached for Jack's hand, holding it gently in hers as she slipped the thimble-like object onto his index finger. Jack sat quietly and watched, taking the opportunity to stare again. He really had to watch that habit.

"Huh." Sam cocked her head to one side as she looked at the results. She set up the equipment to measure radiation, and watched the computer again, frowning as it threw up data in dribs and drabs.

"Carter?" Jack asked, feeling fidgety. Playing lab-rat wasn't his favourite occupation.

"This doesn't make any sense."

"Oh?"

"It's like …" She broke off, tapping one of the electrical devices thoughtfully.

"Carter?" He prodded again, with a little impatience.

"It's like you've been zatted, but the charge hasn't worn off. And you're giving off trace amounts of every low-grade radiation known to man."

"Well _that's_ impossible."

"Yeah." She looked at him as if he was an interesting new toy she was trying to figure out. "It's like someone intentionally did this to put us off the scent of something else."

Jack gaped at her for a minute, trying to wrap his head around that, and when he failed, settled for 'Huh?"

"Nothing I know of can cause the human body to become radio-active on such a tiny scale, in so many different forms of radiation. It's as though someone has placed some radioactive markers in your body to hide what's really happening to you."

"Why?"

"I don't know." She shook her head, apparently mystified. "And the electromagnetic charge shouldn't still be there either. It should have dissipated as you interacted with your environment."

Shrugging, Jack stood up and stretched. "Are you done with me?"

"For the moment, yes sir. I want to test you again in a couple of hours though."

He nodded, and lingered, watching her with a hint of concern.

"I guess team night's cancelled then." Sam said with a nervous grin.

"I'd say so, yeah." Jack winced. "It's got to be the Grevians, hasn't it?"

"Sir?"

"The reason all this is happening? It can't be a coincidence that I turn into an irradiated human magnet with either really disturbing hallucinations or a little time looping problem, the day after we meet them."

"It does seem unlikely, doesn't it."

"So, maybe we do what we did last time me and Teal'c started looping, we go back to the planet. And figure out who wants to kill you."

"_If_ you're looping and it wasn't just an hallucination." Sam pointed out quickly. Jack looked sceptical.

"Yeah. If." Jack drummed his fingers on the desk, and then pushed his stool away. "Dinner in the commissary, 1900 hours?"

"I'll be there sir." Sam smiled warmly at him, and with a last skittish glance at her, he left.

He was ten feet down the hall when he heard the shot.

For a second, his heart stopped beating.

In what felt like slow motion, he turned and ran back to the door of Sam's lab.

This time, he knew it wasn't the shock at seeing her dead, her deep blue eyes achingly lifeless, which caused the world to heave and go black.

* * *

_Hope you liked it (despite the pathetic shortness of it - I will try to keep the wordcount above 1000 in future. I think this one clocked in at about 800). Please review!_

_Beka :-P  
_


	5. Thinking

**_Fighting Time - part 5_**

_Hello my lovelies! I'm back, after a week of essay hell, and raring to go! Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!  
_

* * *

"He's coming round."

Jack blinked his eyes open, then shut them tight again when a bright light pierced his retina. _Not again._

"Ow." He complained.

"Jack? How do you feel?" Daniel's voice. _Déjà vu. _He opened his eyes resolutely against the agonising light.

"Carter? Where's Carter?" He asked urgently, silently ordering his eyes to make sense of the dark shapes of people around him.

"I'm here sir." Carter answered, with a hint of concern in her voice.

"How do you feel, Colonel?" Doctor Fraiser's voice asked. He blinked, trying to get a clear view of his surroundings and clear his head.

"What day is it? What time?" He asked, ignoring Fraiser's question and glaring when she tried to shine her penlight in his eye.

Carter and Daniel exchanged worried looks. "It's Thursday, Jack. 10:45 in the morning." Daniel told him.

"We found you unconscious in the locker room. Do you remember what happened?" Sam added.

Jack closed his eyes and clenched his fists. "It's a time loop. I'm stuck in another damn time loop!" He pounded his fists on the bed in frustration.

Teal'c raised his eyebrows in consternation. "How is that possible, O'Neill? We have not been back to P4X 639 in several years."

"It was the Grevians. It has to be them."

"I don't think so sir. I mean, yes, they are technologically ahead of us, but not _that _far ahead." Sam reasoned, frowning.

Jack looked at her standing by his bedside, and had to work hard to stop himself reaching out and touching her hand, just to make sure.

Janet cleared her throat. "Colonel, there's something else. Your blood tests came back clear, but there's an abnormality in your MRI that I'm a little concerned about, and you're also having an . . . unusual effect on my electrical equipment."

"Yeah, I know. Carter said it was an electric-magnet thingy. It's not going to go away. I'm radioactive as well." Jack told them tiredly. Sam and Janet's eyes met in alarm from opposite sides of his bed.

"I'm going to get some equipment and run some tests." Sam said, gesturing to the door.

"There's no point, you did that last time and only got confused. And there's something more important we have to deal with."

"_More _important that you possibly being stuck in another time loop?" Daniel asked incredulously.

"Yes." Jack looked at Sam gravely. "In both of the loops I've been through so far, Carter was murdered at around 1830 hours."

Silence descended. Sam's mouth dropped open slightly, while Daniel, Teal'c and Janet looked at her in alarm.

"Murdered? As in …" Daniel asked after clearing his throat nervously.

"Dead, Daniel."

"By whose hand?" Teal'c asked evenly, the deep tone of his voice implying that he was already planning his vengeance.

"I don't know, both times I found her just after it happened. But whoever it was has access to something similar to Asgard transporter technology."

"How do you know?" Sam asked.

"Because last time it happened about five seconds after I left you alone in your lab, and when I ran back in no one was there."

"Is it possible they ran out before you could see them?" Janet asked.

"No, I turned round as soon as I heard the shot, and I was within visual range of the door."

Frowns of puzzlement adorned the faces of his friends. Jack swung his legs over the side of the bed and got up.

"Woah, Colonel, we're not done yet. I want to run some more tests, to find out more about this electromagnetic field and possible radiation poisoning."

Jack towered over the doctor, glaring stonily. "Doc, we did this before. I'm not in any immediate danger and I don't intend to waste time in here when Carter's killer is out there."

"Sir, with all due respect, the time loop has to be the priority. Even if I am going to be attacked, finding out who's responsible at this stage would be largely pointless if every time you catch them, time loops again and you're back to square one." Carter argued.

"Or, I could find out who's responsible first, and then we figure out how to stop the time loop, so that when you figure out how to fix the space-time continuum you're still alive at the end of it." Jack countered, turning his glare on the major.

"I think Jack has a point, actually." Daniel said reluctantly after a pause.

"As do I. A continuation of the timeline would not be optimal if O'Neill does not first find out how to save your life, Major Carter." Teal'c agreed.

Sam shrugged resignedly. "Alright."

"I'd still like to run some tests Colonel." Janet interjected when Jack made to leave again.

Jack kept walking, tossing a firm "No" over his shoulder. After a shared look of concern, the rest of his team followed.

* * *

Sam hovered uncertainly in her lab with Daniel and Teal'c, while Jack worked determinedly on her computer. "Sir?"

"I'm checking your email account for death threats, Carter." Jack explained, a scowl permanently residing on his brow.

"Um, Jack?" Daniel said, raising his hand slightly as if in class.

"Yes, Daniel?" Jack answered tersely.

"Don't you think that if the, ah, culprit, is using Asgard transporter technology they're not likely to be using email as well?" He offered timidly.

Jack stopped, and closed his eyes. _Damn it._

"Alright, Daniel, what do you suggest?" He said, swinging round on Carter's chair to face the rest of his team.

Sam glanced at the others quickly before answering. "I've checked with NORAD, sir – there's no sign of a spacecraft or any other unidentifiable object anywhere in Earth's orbit. If there is a ship around with an Asgard transporter, its either not here yet, or using a cloak."

"Can we prevent the use of an Asgard transporter within the base's perimeter?" Teal'c asked. Sam frowned for a moment, considering it.

"I don't think so Teal'c. Well ... maybe, but it would take me a lot longer than eight hours to figure out."

"Can Jack do what he did last time? Learn it from you in each successive loop?" Daniel asked, causing Jack to wince at the idea. Sam looked at Jack in sad resignation.

"I don't think so, no. I'd have to invent something from scratch, and there's really no way that the Colonel could catch me up at the beginning of every loop. It's more complicated than that."

"Perhaps for the moment it would be best to ensure Major Carter is never left alone." Teal'c suggested.

Jack nodded. "Yeah. Ok, everyone keep thinking. Carter, keep checking with NORAD about that ship. I want ideas about who could be behind this as well as how to stop it."

With a last pained look at Carter, he left them alone.

* * *

"I've got it!" Daniel careened into Sam's lab, almost colliding with Teal'c who stood guard at the door.

"I've got it." He repeated breathlessly. Sam looked up expectantly. He shook himself and put a case file down on her workbench. "Anubis. Anubis has beaten at least one Asgard ship before, right?" He tapped the case file, which Sam now saw was dated at around the time Anubis had destroyed Thor's ship. "_And_ he probed Thor's mind. He has access to Asgard knowledge and technology – he could easily have installed an Asgard transporter in one of his ships."

Sam cocked her head and frowned, thinking. "I guess, but … it doesn't make sense. First of all, why would Anubis want to kill me specifically? And even supposing there was a reason for that, clandestine assassination isn't really his style, is it?"

"Anubis, like all Goa'uld, would prefer to punish a planet, rather than a specific individual." Teal'c agreed.

Daniel chewed his bottom lip, still thinking. "But it might not be Anubis himself. Maybe someone else got a hold of one of his ships."

"So the assassin could be anyone." Teal'c concluded gravely.

Sam sighed, and gave a forced smile. Daniel studied her expression concernedly. "Are you ok? All this talk about your assassination must be a little unnerving."

"A little, I guess." Sam admitted. "To be honest, I'm still not completely sure that this is really going to happen."

Teal'c took a step towards the other two, an eyebrow raised. "You do not believe O'Neill's story?"

Sam winced. "I'm sorry, I know it happened to you and him before and you wasted a lot of time convincing us then, but this … I don't know. The circumstances don't fit."

"You think it may have been a dream while he was passed out?" Daniel asked.

"I'm trying to keep an open mind." Sam answered finally. The other two just looked at her for a moment, and, feeling decidedly uncomfortable, she changed the subject. "Let's get back to work. Maybe you guys should dig through some mission files, see who might have a grudge against me. I'm going to work on this time loop problem."

"Are sure? Jack said –"

"I know Daniel. I'm sure. Go on." Sam insisted. Daniel exchanged a glance with Teal'c, and headed back to his office, leaving Sam to work and Teal'c to remain ever-vigilant while perusing mission files.

* * *

_What did you think? Review me!_

_Beka :D  
_


	6. Slow progress

_**Fighting Time - part 6**_

_Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!  
_

* * *

Jack wandered into Sam's lab, under the pretence of a casual visit, at 1800 hours. He'd been getting progress reports throughout the day from Daniel, and it didn't sound like they were making a whole lot of progress.

"Carter?" She and Teal'c looked up at him, Teal'c acknowledging his presence with a nod before returning to the mission file he was reading.

"Did you need something, sir?" Sam asked, when Jack continued to stand there uneasily.

"How's the research going?" He asked eventually, moving to stand on the other side of her workbench. Sam tensed a little, which he wondered at.

"I've been looking at the possibility of us being stuck in a time loop." She admitted.

"I told you to –" Jack started to reprimand her, but Sam cut him off.

"I know sir, but … this is what I'm good at. Physics. I'm not a detective."

She waited anxiously while Jack stewed, and he eventually decided that being mad at her for disobeying orders probably wasn't productive right now.

"Fine. What did you find?"

"Well, in order for it to make any sense that you are aware of the time loop, it has to have originated from somewhere you have personally visited, and presumably recently. Now, despite what I said about them not being technologically advanced enough to achieve that kind of distortion of time, it does seem logical that the Grevians are somehow involved."

"That's what I said." Jack said. "Please tell me you got further than that."

Sam winced. "Not exactly. I can see that it's possible that they've been experimenting with time travel, as I guess technically _we_ have, and they're definitely further advanced than we are. But I don't know how you could be aware of it, as you were never alone with them and didn't encounter or interact with any unidentified technology. I think our best bet at this stage is to return to the planet itself and ask questions. See if they're aware of the problem, or are even affected by it."

"I said that too! It took you this long just to come up with reasons to do exactly what I said in the first place?"

"I've made a small portable electro-magnetic and radiation detector, to take with us when we go back. As you're giving off strange readings, it's a fair assumption that the device or people responsible will be too. However bizarre it might be that the radiation is not depleting and comes in every form known to man." Sam offered, gesturing the innocuous-looking black box on her desk.

Jack let out a breath. "Nice. That's more like it. But you're forgetting one thing. We can't do any of this until we figure out who _killed _you."

"I have no idea, sir! It's not like I've personally insulted anyone who has access to an Asgard transporter!" Sam protested, finally losing her cool. Jack raised his eyebrows, and Sam held up a hand in apology.

"We'll keep working on it." She conceded.

Jack nodded, and scooped a few mission files from the tower of them on her desk, settling in a stool to read. And to wait. There was no way he was leaving her alone this time, and there was no way the killer would get away with it.

The minutes ticked by agonisingly slowly. Jack glanced up every few minutes, and jumped at the slightest noise. At 18:28, Jack got up, and perched on the workbench next to Carter, who was tweaking her radiation detector. She glanced at him nervously – he was radiating tension.

18:29.

The climax of the tense seconds was not disappointing. With the familiar flash of the Asgard transporter, a man dressed all in black in a hood appeared directly behind Carter. It was over in seconds. Jack's full body weight sent him flying away from Carter a split second _after_ the knife sliced Sam's jugular.

The assassin was lying face down, his hood still up. Jack dimly had time to register that Sam was bleeding and unmoving in Teal'c's arms, before he struggled to get the assassin turned over. If he could just a get a glimpse of his face …

* * *

"He's coming round."

Jack blinked his eyes open, then shut them again.

"Jack? How do you feel?" Daniel's voice asked.

_Damnit_.

* * *

"I'm not sure you're listening to me, Colonel. I can't authorise you to go on a mission to _anywhere_ until Doctor Fraiser has cleared you for active duty." General Hammond argued, as an irate Jack fumed in his office, the rest of SG-1 and Dr Fraiser waiting nervously in the briefing room.

"Then order her to clear me!" Jack argued. "General, we can't keep going through these loops."

"Colonel, by your own admission, you don't know for certain that the Grevians are responsible! I can't have you barging in there making demands and causing a diplomatic incident!"

"I'll ask nicely!"

"And what about the problem of Major Carter's potential attacker? You said you spent the whole of the last loop trying to find out who it could be with little success." Hammond protested.

"And if we fix the loop without discovering who did it – _will_ do it – then we'd lose her, _I know_ sir, but with all their superior technology they might be able to help with that too."

That argument was the first of Jack's that hit home with the General. He looked out of his office window at the group hovering in the briefing room. Sam was talking quietly with Daniel, both looking worried.

He sighed. "You are not authorised to make any demands. You are not authorised to negotiate for the uranium. You must conduct yourself _at all times_ with tact and decorum. Don't make me regret this, Jack."

"Thank you sir." Jack threw him a sloppy salute, and quickly went back into the briefing room. "Gear up, kids. We head out in ten."

* * *

_Thanks for reading! Please review!_

_Beka  
_


	7. Field trip

**_Fighting Time - part 7_**

_Ta da! I'm currently quite unnecessarily proud of myself for updating twice in one week. Yay! Enjoy.  
_

* * *

The Grevian home world was bleak, to say the least. The grey dirt was dry and dusty, and any grass that survived was brittle and brown. Jack would have supposed it was a particularly harsh summer, except the biting cold wind suggested otherwise. The natural scenery (or lack of it) was overshadowed, however, by the magnificence of the city they had built within it. The architecture would have made any Earth city-dweller gush. It wasn't the architecture, though, but the absolute cleanliness of it, which impressed Jack. He had never seen a city in his life as absolutely sterile as this one. He wasn't sure he liked it.

They wasted no time getting to the Chancellor's office. He was the representative of the Grevians, and had been particularly engaging on their last visit.

"Colonel, back so soon!" He gushed, when he met them outside his office. He invited them with a big sweeping gesture, and they followed him into his office, taking seats around the conference table in there.

"We have a bit of a problem. We think you may be able to help us with it." Jack started, trying a little to keep the accusatory tone out of his voice. When the Chancellor frowned in concern, Jack waved at Sam to continue.

"Chancellor, are your people experimenting with time travel, at all?"

"Time travel?" The chancellor repeated, frowning as though he didn't recognise the words. "No, we're not. Why do you ask?"

Daniel answered quickly before Jack could get beyond opening his mouth. "Have any of your people claimed they are experiencing the same day three –" he glanced at Jack to check the number "– three times?"

"This is the fourth." Jack chimed in.

"No, I can't say that they have." He turned his gaze to Jack. "Perhaps you're experiencing a particularly bad dream." The Chancellor suggested, his eyes twinkling in a way that Jack found irrationally suspicious.

"It's not a dream. Ever since I left this planet I've been stuck in a time loop, and I'm an irradiated magnet." Jack retorted irritably.

"'_Tact and decorum', Jack_." Daniel hissed at him. Jack responded with a glare.

"I'm sorry. I can't help you with that." The Chancellor replied with a smile. "Was there something else you wanted help with?"

Sam and Jack simultaneously narrowed their eyes. They both felt something was amiss.

"Actually, yes." Daniel answered. "On our planet, time is looping approximately every eight hours. At the end of each loop, Major Carter" he gestured to Sam, "is murdered. We don't know who is responsible, just that they are using site-to-site transporter technology to gain access to our base from a ship in orbit around our planet."

"And you require help in rectifying this?" The chancellor assumed. "Do you have any suspects?"

SG-1 looked to Jack. He shook his head. "No. In the last loop we spent quite some time looking through our old mission files to try and find a suspect, but … everyone we've pissed off, we've pissed off as a team. There doesn't seem to be anyone who'd only go after Carter."

"Is that true of all of you?" The chancellor asked. Jack blinked at him in confusion.

"Come again?"

"Is it true that no one would go after any of us on an individual basis?" Daniel checked. The chancellor nodded.

They thought for a moment. "Well, I can see that quite a lot of them may go after me." Jack said. "Definitely Teal'c, as well."

"How does that help, anyway?" Sam asked.

"I am just trying to broaden your perspective." The chancellor said smilingly. "Sometimes the most obvious answer, contrary to popular belief, is _not_ the correct one."

He stood suddenly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a lot to do. Please stay as long as you like. Feel free to discuss this, ah … _time loop_ problem with our scientists."

He left, the door swinging shut with a thud behind him.

SG-1 met each other's eyes with slightly startled expressions.

"Well that was odd." Jack commented.

"Tell me about it." Sam agreed. "He didn't even mention the uranium, and they couldn't stop talking about it yesterday."

"He is concealing something." Teal'c agreed.

"He didn't even blink when we mentioned time travel, either. It's like he was completely unconcerned about it." Daniel offered.

"That, I find less fishy than how he seemed to know that we had another problem before we mentioned it, and then gave the most convoluted and brief help I've ever heard." Jack said, wringing his hands. "I think we need to go and talk to those scientists. Carter, have you got your fancy gizmo up and running?"

"Yes sir." Sam nodded, and took off her backpack in order to pull her radiation detector out of it.

"Let's go take a look around."

* * *

The rest of the trip was singularly unhelpful. If the Grevian scientists were experimenting with time travel, they were very good at hiding it. And Sam didn't pick up a trace of radiation, exotic or otherwise, other than the normal levels for a planet of their advancement.

They gated back at 16:00 feeling dejected. General Hammond was waiting for them at the bottom of the ramp.

"Colonel, how was the meeting with the Grevian Chancellor?" He asked.

"It was short, sir." Jack replied briskly.

General Hammond had a sidelong look with Daniel. "Are we still on good terms with –"

"Don't worry, I was nice." Jack answered, and marched in the direction of the briefing room.

"Colonel!" Hammond started to turn red with annoyance as Jack walked away.

"Briefing room, sir?" Jack called over his shoulder.

Hammond turned to the rest of SG-1. Daniel and Teal'c frowned at Jack's retreating back, while Sam smiled nervously at Hammond.

"They were acting oddly, sir. It was like they knew something, but wanted us to figure it out for ourselves." She explained.

"Hence Jack's bad mood." Daniel added, before walking past the others after Jack.

"Let's reconvene to the briefing room." The General suggested to the two remaining members of SG-1.

* * *

Sam sat in the locker room, and just breathed. This had to have been in the top five weirdest days in her life, and she had a few whoppers to compare it with. She knew the others were hovering outside the door, no doubt worried about the time. It was 18:17. After the lengthy debriefing in which it became increasingly clear that nothing about the situation made sense, she'd insisted on having a shower to wash away the nasty grey Grevian dust, which like all dust from alien planets, got everywhere. Now, showered and dressed, she didn't want to go back out there and be smothered by the boys and their over-protective mother-hen act.

"Carter?" The colonel. She supposed she should forgive him for being worried. If she'd seen him die three times … she shuddered involuntarily.

"I'm here sir."

"Are you done?"

She sighed. "Yeah, I'm done." She packed her wash things into her locker, and then opened the locker room door to find, as she'd expected, the three men waiting right outside the door.

"What now?" She asked, when none of them said anything. The colonel responded by heading off down the corridor.

"Follow me."

The other three exchanged bemused looks, before doing as he asked and taking off after him. Two minutes later, they found themselves in the armory, and Jack was handing them all their standard mission gear.

"Jack, what are you doing?" Daniel asked warily.

"I'm picking daisies, Daniel, what does it look like?"

"Sir, we don't have authorization to go back to the Grevian's planet." Sam reminded him as he handed her a P90 and a bullet proof vest.

"We're not going through the gate, Carter. We're going to kill the bastard who, in 9 minutes, is going to try and kill you." He responded tersely. He picked up a zat and opened it with an electric hiss.

All geared up, he led them down to the gate room, and called for the attention of the armed guards in the room. "If anyone, and I mean _anyone_, beams into this room, shoot them on sight, no hesitation. That's a direct order."

"Do as he says." General Hammond called down from the control room over the tannoy. Jack felt like sagging with relief. This would be so much easier with his CO's support. Carter wasn't going to die again.

Like clockwork, the action began at 18:29. The flash was, as usual, right beside Carter, and Jack was there ready. He started putting bullets in the black-hooded figure before he'd finished transporting in, but that didn't stop the assailant from using his knife … right in Sam's neck.

The hooded figure fell to the ground a second after Carter did. And this time, his hood fell away from his face.

Jack's face twisted with fury. "_You …"_

* * *

_I know, I'm a mean mean girl, leaving you with a cliffhanger like that. I can't help myself! I've said it a hundred times, but please please review! I love hearing what you think of the story, and constructive criticism is warmly welcomed and very much appreciated._

_Beka  
_


	8. Another odd moment

**_Fighting Time - part 8_**

_I decided to take pity on you and avoid a lynching by posting more ... the day after the cliffhanger! Three updates in a week! I'm on a roll!  
_

* * *

"He's coming round."

Jack blinked his eyes open. He kept them open, defying the pain of the bright lights.

"Jack? How do you feel?" Daniel's voice asked from the outskirts of his field of vision.

He didn't say anything for a minute, trying to compute what he'd just seen. It didn't make a lot of sense.

"Colonel?" Doctor Fraiser's voice asked, as she moved to shine a penlight in his eye. He winced and shied away from it.

"Get that away from me Doc! As usual, the answer to this problem is _not_ in my damn eyes!" Sam and Daniel looked at each other in bemused relief. If he was grumpy he was probably ok.

"We found you unconscious in the locker room. Do you remember what happened?" Sam asked.

He just looked at her for a long moment. "Yeah Carter, I do. We need to get to the briefing room _right now_."

Janet cleared her throat. "Ah, I don't think so Colonel. Your blood tests came back clear, but there's an abnormality in your MRI that I'm a little concerned about, and you're also having an . . . unusual effect on my electrical equipment."

Jack half-smiled at her, and got up anyway. "I know, Doc."

He headed out of the room, relieved that in each of these loops he woke up in uniform, not infirmary scrubs. "Go after him." Janet told SG-1, and then sighed, and followed them as well. It was unlikely that even they would be able to coax him back to the infirmary before he got to the briefing room, so she may as well go along and see what he had to say.

* * *

"It was _Ba'al_?" Sam repeated incredulously.

"Why would Ba'al be trying to kill Sam?" Daniel asked.

"Not trying to, Daniel, _actually_ killing her. Every damn time." Jack responded tersely.

"What can we do to stop it?" Hammond asked from the head of the briefing table.

Jack stared at his clenched fists. "I don't know, General." He answered eventually. "I've tried staying with her, I've tried getting us all heavily armed and waiting for him in the gate room with ten armed men ready to shoot him. He's just too damn quick. He beams in right next to her and –" He trailed off, wincing. Sam shifted uncomfortably.

"Could we use the symbiote poison?" Janet asked.

Teal'c shook his head slightly, sadly. "If what O'Neill says is true, it would not affect him quickly enough to prevent him from injuring Major Carter."

"Maybe we could deliver it to his ship." Sam offered. They all looked at her, frowning. "I know we don't know where it is, but if Ba'al always knows exactly where to beam in and the best method of attack for the circumstances, he must be watching us. Which means he's already here somewhere, cloaked. If we can somehow figure out where his ship is and deliver a massive package of the symbiote poison to his ship, far enough in advance …"

She was met by skeptical looks. "Bit of a long shot, isn't it?" Jack asked.

"It's got to be worth a try, though." Sam argued.

Hammond thought for a moment. "Alright. Major, you work on locating Ba'al's ship. Dr Jackson, Teal'c, I want you to figure out _why _Ba'al might be targeting Major Carter. Dismissed. Colonel, I want a word with you in my office."

He stood, and Jack, Sam and Janet stood automatically with him. They shared an uneasy look, before Jack followed Hammond into the adjoining office.

"Take a seat, Jack." Hammond started. Jack regarded him warily for a moment, before complying.

"How are you doing with all of this, son?" Hammond asked kindly, once Jack was seated.

"Oh, just peachy sir." Jack answered sarcastically. Hammond raised an eyebrow, and Jack held up a hand in apology.

"I know this must be hard on you Jack, but I need you to stay focused. If you are the only one who remembers every time we experience one of these time loops, its up to you to figure out how to stop Ba'al killing Major Carter."

Jack winced. "The 'figuring out' thing is usually Carter's department, sir. I'm just the grunt."

"You and I both know that's not true, Colonel. And from what you've told us about your meeting with the Grevians, I'm thinking, as I'm sure you are too, that the answer to this mess is not scientific but tactical."

Jack said nothing. He didn't know what there was to say that they both didn't already know.

"You need to stick with it. Keep motivated, no matter how many of these damn loops you have to go through. How many has it been so far?"

"This is the fifth."

"Figure out how to save Major Carter. Then all of this will be over."

Jack's head shot up. "General, saving Carter isn't going to stop the time loops."

Jack watched as General Hammond's face performed a series of odd expressions, as though he'd caught himself giving something away he shouldn't. "I know that, son. But once we can save her you can go grill the Grevians to get them to stop the loops." Hammond said eventually in a slightly strained voice.

"Yes sir." Jack said uncertainly.

"Dismissed." Hammond had already turned back to the papers on his desk. Jack stood uncertainly, and then left the office, closing the door behind him.

He stood for a moment, frowning back at the door. "That was odd."

* * *

He sat in Carter's office, and watched her work. She was so engrossed, it seemed she had forgotten he was there at all. He didn't mind that so much though, it gave him the freedom to just look at her, watch her. As each loop and each death she died passed, he was becoming increasingly grateful for these moments. The opportunities to simply enjoy the reality of her being alive, however fleeting it might be. He'd been resisting the urge to acknowledge the way watching her die made him feel, the smashing of his heart beneath a mallet, but he was tired, so tired, and he was sure that if he lived through much more of this he was going to end up spending one of the loops spilling his guts to her about the way he felt about her.

She looked up suddenly, catching him staring at her, and frowned when she read the unguarded expression on his face. "Sir, are you ok?"

He kept looking at her, trying to assess whether he was tired enough to be honest, but decided that at this point it would achieve nothing. "Sure, Carter. Don't let me interrupt …" He gestured at her computer.

She frowned at him for another long moment, clearly not buying the act, but elected to let it drop, and turned back to her computer.

He thought back to the more puzzling events of the past few days. The mystifying reality of his giving off every kind of radiation Carter had ever heard of in tiny amounts, the weird behavior of the Grevians, as though they knew something but had decided to let him figure it out for himself, and Hammond's little slip in the office – that was the oddest occurrence. But what could Hammond possibly have to hide from him? Did he know how to stop the loops, and was just waiting for Jack to figure out how to save Sam?

He shook himself out of those thoughts, and contemplated Ba'al. The slimy snake-bastard was intent on murdering Carter. Did he know about the time loops? Was he causing them? No, that didn't make any sense. He'd been wondering whether there was a connection between Carter's death and the time loops, because it struck him as a little convenient that on the day her number was apparently up, he was provided with a unique opportunity to save her.

Just the fact of Ba'al's _wanting_ to kill Carter made no sense. What had she done to make him want to kill her personally? She hadn't had any run-ins with him without the rest of SG-1, except for that idiot Felger's gate virus, but Ba'al had turned that to his advantage. It hardly seemed reason enough to want her – and only her – dead. Although Ba'al was a particularly twisted snake-head, the usual Goa'uld MO was to blow the hell out of everyone in order to make sure that the one person was dead, not to risk life and limb to go in personally and just take out one.

"This isn't going to work, sir." Carter spoke up suddenly from the other side of the workbench. He lifted his head to look at her.

"Oh?"

"I can't detect his ship in orbit without what could be weeks of searching through the possible area his ship could be occupying for tell-tale signs that might not even be there. And even if we did find it, I still don't know how we'd deliver a pay-load of symbiote poison."

"Well, if we found them we could probably forget the poison and settle for just blowing them out of the sky." Jack offered.

Sam shrugged hopelessly. Jack bowed his head and closed his eyes. He knew exactly how she felt.

* * *

_What did you think? Were you expecting Ba'al? Were you expecting someone else in particular? Please review!_

_Beka :-D  
_


	9. Confrontation

_**Fighting Time - part 9**_

_Voila. Chapter 9. Enjoy!_

_

* * *

_

While Jack was watching Sam work on finding and stopping Ba'al, Daniel and Teal'c were holed up in Daniel's office, trying to work out what Ba'al's motive might be. They were stumped. They couldn't figure out why Sam would be any more of a threat than the rest of them. Unless Ba'al knew something they didn't.

Teal'c was hatching an idea … but he didn't like it one bit. He had been gazing in Daniel's direction for some time, mulling over the possibility, before Daniel noticed that his friend was preoccupied.

"Teal'c? What are you thinking?" Daniel asked, as Teal'c continued to stare at a spot slightly above the archaeologist's left shoulder.

At Daniel's words however, Teal'c pulled himself out of his musings, and thought about how best to frame his response. After glancing around uneasily, he got up to shut the door, before returning to his seat. Daniel watched his actions, puzzled, and slightly disturbed.

"Teal'c?" He prompted, when the jaffa still said nothing.

"I have been pondering the problem, and it occurred to me that the goa'uld are fond of vengeance." He responded.

Daniel frowned, not following. "But we've been going over these mission files all day, and as far as I can tell Sam hasn't done anything to Ba'al that would make him want revenge." He argued.

"Goa'uld vengeance has often involved making the target suffer, by watching their loved ones die." Teal'c responded gravely. Daniel's eyes widened as he understood the implications of his friend's words.

"Sam's not the one he's trying to hurt." He said, with not a small amount of wonder in his voice. "He's trying to hurt Jack by killing …"

"By killing the woman he loves." Teal'c finished for him in a soft voice. Daniel held the jaffa's gaze for a moment. There had long been an understanding between them that their teammates were repressing very strong feelings for each other, but neither had voiced it until now.

"We can't tell them." Daniel said eventually. "We can't tell anyone. If General Hammond found out …"

"Then we must keep it to ourselves." Teal'c concluded.

"If Jack figures this out, it'll kill him." Daniel reflected sadly. "Particularly if we can't save Sam." He shuddered at the thought. The idea of losing her made his stomach turn.

Teal'c rose from his seat. "I believe we have correctly identified Ba'al's motives. There is nothing more for us to do here."

Daniel nodded. "What should we say?"

"That we cannot identify an incident where Major Carter's actions would incite Ba'al to murder her." Teal'c said. "It is the truth."

Daniel sighed in frustration. "There's got to be something we can do."

Teal'c glanced at the clock. 17:59.

"We should suggest to O'Neill that in the next loop, he instructs us all to focus on the means of preventing Ba'al from making a successful attempt on Major Carter's life. The motive holds little bearing on the method of stopping it." He told Daniel.

He nodded, and the two of them went to find Jack and Sam.

* * *

Jack was fidgeting, and Sam couldn't concentrate. She knew she was out of time, and she was nowhere close to locating Ba'al's ship. She glanced up at her CO again, to find him staring at her … again. She knew she shouldn't blame him for being concerned, but it was making her nervous.

He suddenly stood up and started pacing. Sam closed her eyes. This was becoming unbearable.

"Maybe I can reason with him." Jack said.

Sam raised her eyebrows. "Reason with a goa'uld?"

"Tell him you're not that big of a nuisance. That we'll lay off him."

"Sir, you said that in every loop so far he's killed me within a second of beaming in. When were you planning on talking to him?" Sam argued impatiently.

"We won't leave any angle open. You can stand backed up in the corner of the room, and I'll stand right in front of you. He'll literally have to come through me first to get to you."

Sam considered it. "It could work. Although he'll probably just kill us both."

"It's worth a shot." Jack retorted. "Worst case scenario, we reset and everyone forgets it ever happened."

They looked at each other for a long moment. Sam could see the desperation in Jack's eyes, the fear and despair. She knew he'd never give up on her, but if she didn't know better … he just looked so tired.

"Alright." She conceded.

Jack smirked. "Like I was really going to give you the choice."

Sam smiled in spite of herself. At that moment Daniel and Teal'c came in, both armed and carrying gear for Jack and Sam. The two military officers took it without a word, donning the bullet-proof vests and picking up the zats. Jack inspected his zat appreciatively – there was an approach he hadn't tried. It was guaranteed to take an assailant down instantly, whereas bullets it was proven would still allow Ba'al the precious seconds it took to kill Sam.

Jack motioned to the corner of the room, and with a sigh Sam backed herself up against it, the two walls meeting behind her back and pressing against her shoulders and arms. Jack stood in front of her facing out, so close she could have rested her chin on his shoulder. Daniel and Teal'c took up positions in front of them, ready to shoot.

And they waited.

At 18:29, Ba'al beamed in. All four members of SG-1 discharged their zats, but the electrical current merely flowed around the outside of Ba'al's personal shield.

"No!" Jack roared, and launched himself at Ba'al. The two were struggling on the floor when Ba'al pulled out his own zat, neatly shooting Daniel, Teal'c and Sam, before using his superior strength to pin Jack against the wall.

"O'Neill. How nice to see you again." He said, his smile almost hidden under his hood.

"Since when do you have a personal shield?" Jack hissed. "You've never had one before."

Ba'al smirked. "It's true I was planning to transport down and dispense with Major Carter without one. But when I saw on my scans how you were all standing in the room, armed with these delectable weapons …" he stroked his zat with one finger appreciatively, "it almost appeared as though you were expecting me. I thought it best to be prudent."

Jack's face was red with rage. "Why are you trying to kill Carter?"

Ba'al cocked his head. "I think the real question is, how did you know that I was going to attempt to kill Major Carter? Do you have a spy in my ranks?"

Jack said nothing. Ba'al shook his head. "No doubt you wouldn't tell me if you did. It is a pity, I was going to enjoy the look on your face when you saw her, your lovely teammate, crumple like a rag doll when I killed her."

"Go to hell." Jack hissed, his eyes murderously black.

"You see O'Neill, you've been a terrible nuisance to me, and I don't allow pests to escape unpunished." He tightened his grip on Jack's shoulder, bringing him to his knees in pain. "But physical pain alone would not be enough for you. I've seen how well you withstand it, in the time we spent together in my fortress." A kick sent Jack sprawling on the floor.

"In many ways, emotional pain is a far crueler weapon. And what better way to inflict it than to kill the one person you would rather die yourself than see killed?" Ba'al taunted. Jack made to lunge at him, but a discharge from the goa'uld's hand device sent him flying back against the wall, and slumping over Daniel's prone body.

Jack wanted to ask how he knew, but wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Ba'al, however, answered the unspoken question unprompted, reveling in his gloating.

"I bet you're wondering how I know about your feelings for the lovely Major? You probably don't remember, you were quite delirious at the time, but you were terribly forthcoming about the matter after one of our interrogation sessions in my fortress. You started calling her name, begging her to save you." He sneered. "It was sickening."

"It's me you want, leave her alone." Jack demanded, knowing it was hopeless. Even if Ba'al did agree to let Sam be, in a few moments time would reset, and he would have forgotten.

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Ba'al smirked again, and turned his hand device towards Sam. "Now, watch her die."

* * *

_Hope you liked it! Please keep reviewing!_

_Beka  
_


	10. Taking a loop off

**_Fighting Time - part 10_**

_Ok, so this one is a little bit fluffy and sad. It had to happen - or at least, I couldn't resist writing one loop like this. Enjoy!  
_

* * *

"He's coming round."

Jack kept his eyes closed. He didn't move.

"Jack?" Daniel's voice prodded at him.

"Go away Daniel." He said dully.

"Colonel?" Doctor Fraiser's voice came to him as she moved closer to him, and he reached out and grabbed hold of her wrist before she could open his eyes and shine the penlight in them.

"Don't even think about it." Jack ordered gruffly, before releasing the doctor's arm.

"We found you unconscious in the locker room. Do you remember what happened?" Sam asked. Jack could have cried. He didn't answer, and still kept his eyes closed.

Janet cleared her throat. "Ah, Colonel, your blood tests came back clear, but there's an abnormality in your MRI that I'm a little concerned about, and you're also having an . . . unusual effect on my electrical equipment."

"Forget about it Doc. It doesn't mean anything."

"Then why did you lose consciousness, O'Neill?" Teal'c reasoned from the sidelines.

"Because Ba'al is a rat bastard." He answered dispassionately. "And I'm taking a loop off."

Four pairs of eyebrows rose at that, and Teal'c looked at Jack with some measure of comprehension. "You have said that once before, O'Neill. We were experiencing a time loop."

"What does Ba'al have to do with this? We haven't run into him in months." Sam asked.

He finally opened his eyes. "We're in a time loop. I'm not playing this time around. You should probably make sure to be asleep at eighteen hundred hours." Jack told her. He got up as the rest of his team and Janet gaped at him.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Or this morning I guess, whatever."

He ignored Janet's protestations as he got out of bed and left the infirmary.

* * *

Jack winced as he heard a car pull up in his driveway. He was lying flat on his back in the backyard, his hands clasped under his head, and his eyes closed as the sun warmed his face. The sound of light footsteps answered his ponderings about which of them it was, and the knock on the front door remained unanswered.

Sam wasn't willing to give up that easy though, and she found him when she walked round the house to check the backyard, knowing he liked to sit out there on nice days.

"Sir?" She called softly.

"Carter. What are you doing here?" He asked, not opening his eyes.

"I uh … I came to see if you were alright, sir." He did open his eyes now, and squinted up at her skeptically. She shifted under his regard uncomfortably.

"That and the General said he wouldn't send a squad of marines after you if a member of SG-1 managed to talk you into coming back." She confessed.

"Well forget it. I told you, I'm taking a loop off."

"Sir, if we really are stuck in a time loop, then we need to figure out how to stop it." She protested.

Jack considered going through explaining everything, including her impending assassination by Ba'al, again, but couldn't summon the energy.

"We'll do it tomorrow." He patted the grass next to him. "Come and enjoy the sunshine."

Sam gave him an odd look, like she was concerned for his sanity, and then obediently sat down beside him.

"Sir … what's going on?" She couldn't help but ask eventually.

Jack sat up and took one of her hands in his, resting their entwined fingers on the fabric of her cotton skirt. He could see her confusion and concern grow at his actions. "Relax Carter. I'm taking a loop off, which means you are too. In just over six hours, none of this will have ever happened."

Sam took a deep breath, still looking at their joined hands as if they were going to bite her. "With all due respect sir, I've only got your word for that. And if what you say is true, then … it's not in my nature to just sit by and do nothing."

He smiled softly at her. "I know." He got up, pulling her up with him. "Come on. We're going to the zoo."

He strode off around the house, leaving Sam staring after him in utter bewilderment.

"Colonel, there's no zoo in Colorado Springs."

* * *

Jack had no end of fun mocking Sam for her lack of knowledge in the local attractions, when it turned out there actually _was_ a zoo in Colorado Springs. And after a couple of hours trailing round worriedly after her CO, Sam had to admit she was beginning to enjoy herself. She'd never seen Jack like this before – it was if he'd just closed all the worry and confusion about his situation off, shoved into a remote corner of his mind, along with any memory of the military, let alone the SGC. He wasn't Colonel O'Neill anymore, he was just Jack, and Sam found herself letting go of Major Carter as well, as she spent time with this new side of him. She even squeaked quite girlishly at the lion cubs.

By 16:30 though, Jack couldn't help but be pulled back to real life. He drove Sam back to his house in pensive silence, which left Sam fidgeting nervously. He pulled into his driveway and turned the engine off before saying anything to her. He turned to look at her, trying to find the words to explain what he needed to.

"Sam, this has been a wonderful day, and I don't want it to end."

Sam smiled slightly. "Me neither."

"But it's going to, in less than two hours. What I need you to do now, is go back to SGC, and get Janet to sedate you." He told her. Her eyes widened.

"Why?" She asked nervously.

"Because at 18:29 today, Ba'al is going to kill you, and I don't want you to have to live through that again. If you're sedated, he might decide to wait until I'm there and you're awake; or if he does do it anyway, you at least won't feel any pain." The sadness in his voice took Sam's breath away, and she nodded mutely, somehow knowing that he was telling the truth.

Without another word, they got out of Jack's truck. Sam opened the door of her own car, and watched as Jack opened his front door and turned to watch her go. With a last sad smile, Sam got into her car, and drove away.

* * *

At 17:45, Jack had another visitor. Daniel found the older man sitting out on his back porch, eating pizza and listening to opera on full volume.

"Jack!" Daniel yelled over the noise of the music.

Jack turned to face Daniel, waved, and pointed at the full bottle of beer on the table, indicating it was for him. Daniel mouthed thanks, and sat down. He didn't touch the beer, so Jack stared at him pointedly until the archaeologist reluctantly opened it and took a swig.

Satisfied that they were meeting on something like his terms, Jack turned the music down to more of a background level, and waited for the interrogation to start.

"So." Daniel started.

"So." Jack returned, dead-pan. Daniel sensed this wasn't going to be an easy conversation to get Jack engaged with, but ploughed on anyway.

"So, Janet just sedated Sam." He continued. Jack just nodded. "Want to tell me why?" Daniel asked.

"I think you already know the answer to that." Jack responded. "Carter told you, didn't she?"

Daniel narrowed his eyes. "Yes … but it's not like you to give up and just hope for the best."

"She'll be ok again next loop."

"But she won't be ok now! God, Jack, how can you just sit there knowing Ba'al's about to make an attempt on her life?" Daniel demanded in frustration.

"What do you want from me Daniel? There's nothing I can do! Believe me, I tried!" Jack snapped back at him.

"I was with her when Janet put her under. She's scared Jack. _You _scared her. And you weren't even there to reassure her that you'd even _try_ to save her."

"Me being there will only make it worse. She's safer without me there."

"What?" Daniel looked utterly confused. Jack studied his beer label, for lack of anything better to look at, while he collected his thoughts.

"Ba'al is trying to kill her, because of me." He admitted quietly. Daniel frowned and leaned forward towards Jack, his elbows resting on the table.

"Because of you?" He repeated, frowning. Jack looked up and met his friends gaze.

"He knows how I feel about her, Daniel. He's taking her away because he thinks it's the best way to hurt me. He wants revenge."

Daniel stared at Jack, processing this new information. He'd never heard Jack admit he had feelings for Sam before.

"How does he know about that?" He asked eventually.

Jack winced. "Apparently I said some stuff during a particularly hellish torture session in his fortress. You remember, the one you wouldn't save me from?" He ended accusingly.

Daniel flinched and looked down at his hands.

"Sorry." Jack apologized. He hadn't meant to hit out at his friend. Daniel waved it away.

"You should be with her." He said.

Jack closed his eyes and sighed. "Daniel …"

"I know, you think you being there increases the risk of him trying something even though she's sedated. But she's in danger, Jack. And if she's going to die …" he choked on those words, "you should be with her."

Daniel's eyes were filled with tears as he looked at Jack. The Air Force colonel eventually looked back, and his eyes conveyed even more sadness, despite the lack of tears.

"I can't do it Daniel. I can't watch her die again." He whispered. Daniel reached across the table and gripped Jack's arm.

"I'll come with you." He offered.

Jack looked up to the sky, feeling the evening breeze blow on his face. He turned off the music, put his beer down, and stood up.

"Alright."

When Sam died forty minutes later, she didn't feel a thing, and Jack was holding her hand.

* * *

_Hope you liked it. Please please please review. I really appreciate the feedback._

_Beka :-)  
_


	11. Breakthrough

**_Fighting Time - part 11_**

_So sorry about the long wait guys. It's exam time, and I've been a bit busy revising and stressing and generally freaking out to do as much writing as I should. I can't promise regular updates again until July, when exams and other assorted commitments are over. Hope you enjoy this chapter._

_

* * *

_"He's coming round."

Jack opened his eyes, and sat up. This time, he was determined to make some progress.

"Jack? How do you feel?" Daniel's voice asked, like clockwork, as the rest of SG-1 and Doctor Fraiser gathered around him as he sat on the bed.

"Colonel?" Doctor Fraiser prodded when Jack didn't answer.

Jack saw the penlight hovering near him and winced. "I'm fine, Doc. No need to bring out the big guns." He looked to Carter, who had already opened her mouth to speak. "And I know Carter, you found me unconscious in the locker room and want to know if I remember what happened. The answer is yes, but I'm going to need everyone's help to figure it all out."

Janet cleared her throat. "Your blood tests came back clear, but –"

"But there's an abnormality in my MRI that you're a little concerned about, and I'm also fritzing with your electrical equipment." Jack finished, as Janet gaped at him.

"Look, I know you want answers, but you're going to have to do what I say, when I say, to get them." Jack said, as the people around his bed looked increasingly confused. "Right now, that means going to the briefing room. We're going to spend all day in there if we have to, but we _are_ going to figure this out."

He slipped off the bed, and walked briskly towards the door, only pausing long enough to call over his shoulder as he opened it. "Come on. Time's a'wasting."

* * *

"Ok kids, this is what we know: we're stuck in a time loop. The Grevians, who we have visited in a previous loop, acted oddly when questioned about it, but we have no hard evidence that they're involved, just a gut feeling and suspicious circumstances. Meanwhile, Ba'al is trying to kill Carter. He is in orbit around Earth in a cloaked ship, and uses an Asgard transporter to beam down here at 18:29. The method he employs tends to depend on where Carter is, who's with her, how heavily armed we are, yada yada. At this point, we have two objectives – find a way to save Carter, and stop the time loops."

Daniel, Sam, Teal'c, Janet and George Hammond all stared at Jack, stunned.

"We're in a time loop?" Daniel repeated.

"Yes we are, and I need you all to stop being shocked by it, so we can get to fixing it without wasting too much time. We're already down to just over seven hours, people." Jack replied impatiently.

"Can we discover the location of Ba'al's ship and destroy it?" Teal'c asked. Jack shook his head.

"No, Carter worked on that all day a couple of loops ago, and came up empty. We can't stop him from being in orbit, and we can't stop him from coming down here. All we can do is manipulate the circumstances on the ground."

"Have you tried laying a trap for him? Being ready to shoot him as soon as he appears?" Hammond asked. Jack resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Yes sir, we have. In several different scenarios. It's difficult to get the drop on him though because he can scan the base and tell how many people are in the room. He detected the zats and came with a personal shield, but he didn't have one when we waited in the gate room with only P90s and 9mils, so he can probably only detect Goa'uld weaponry. However, as we couldn't stop the attack in the gate room, I don't think weapons alone are going to solve this. He's too quick, he just beams in right next to Carter, and kills her."

"What weapon does he use?" Sam asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

"It varies. So far, he's used a bullet-firing gun, a knife, and his ribbon device. He hasn't used it for a kill yet, but he's had a zat as well."

"What if we give him a moving target?" Sam offered. "I mean, presumably if I was on base and we were waiting for him, Ba'al would have found it relatively easy to beam in right next to me. If I was running, though, or on my motorcycle …"

"He'd just find some other way to do it. He's shown that he's adaptable, Carter. And besides, you can't run forever. He might just decide to wait for you to stand still again." Jack argued.

"By which time the time loop will have started again." Daniel added. "It might not work as an outright end to the problem, but it could stop Sam from dying at the end of every loop until we come up with a more permanent solution." He reasoned.

Jack considered it, and then nodded. "You're right. Carter, be on your motorcycle at 18:15 and don't stop, not even for red lights." She nodded.

"What about the time loops?" Hammond asked. "Any progress on stopping them?"

Jack shook his head. "It's the Grevians sir, I'm sure of it, but I don't know how or why and I'm reluctant to spend too much time pursuing that avenue of investigation before we figure out how to save Carter."

"But if we stopped the time loops sir, we'd have more time to solve that problem." Sam argued.

"No Carter, if we stopped the time loops, you'd be dead and we'd have all the time in the world to figure out what we _could_ have done. We're not risking it." Jack argued irately.

Hammond cleared his throat. "While you're thinking about that problem, I want you to pay another visit to the Grevians. See if they have a way of keeping Major Carter safe. Hell, if it comes to it, you can leave her there tonight so that Ba'al can't kill her here."

Jack nodded with a wince, knowing they were just going to be stonewalled again. But then he froze as a thought struck him. He looked up at Hammond in shock.

"What did you just say, sir?"

"I said you could leave Major Carter on the Grevian world at the time Ba'al is due to attack, so that she's out of harm's way."

Jack stared at him. "That's it."

Daniel, Sam and Teal'c exchanged confused looks. "Sir?" Sam frowned at him, puzzled.

"That's how we save you." He said, with wonder in his voice as he turned to look at her. "Ba'al is _here_. He can't kill you if you're somewhere else. I've been thinking too small. Sure, he can get you anywhere on this planet, but we have a whole galaxy of places to hide you in."

"But surely that's just a temporary solution." Daniel argued. "I don't think Ba'al will give up just because Sam's off-world for a while. He'll wait, for as long as it takes. Or he'll send bounty hunters out looking for her."

"So we kill him before he gets the chance." Jack said, the plan starting to lay itself out before him.

"How?" Hammond asked, his face expressionless.

"We lay a trap." Jack turned to him. "We let Ba'al hear a rumor about Carter's location. It can be anywhere with a Stargate and a ring platform. Then, when he comes looking for her, we ring a payload of naquada aboard his ship."

"He could travel by Stargate." Teal'c pointed out.

"We'll choose a planet that's out of the way and has no jaffa population of activity, and flood the atmosphere around the gate with symbiote poison." Jack said triumphantly. The others looked skeptical.

"This can work!" He argued emphatically. "I know there are holes, but with careful planning, which we'll have time for when we've sorted the Grevians out and sent Carter off to have a holiday with, I dunno, the Tok'ra, we can make it work."

SG-1 collectively looked to General Hammond. "Very well. SG-1, I want you geared up and ready to ship out to P5Y 874 in twenty minutes. Stop these time loops." Hammond ordered, as he stood up. Jack and Sam stood up to, and Jack looked Hammond squarely in the eye, endowed with renewed confidence.

"Yes sir."

* * *

_Please review!_

_Beka  
_


	12. Resolution

**_Fighting Time - part 12_**

_Much later than I anticipated, but here it is! Enjoy!  
_

* * *

Jack paced impatiently at the bottom of the ramp, waiting for the rest of his team to show up. For the first time since this whole horrible mess started, he was hopeful. They had a plan. They could save Carter, and maybe even dispatch with Ba'al. All that stood in the way now, was the Grevians, and Jack didn't care who he had to strangle to sort that mess out.

There was a rumble of metal on metal as the door slid open, announcing the arrival of Sam and Teal'c. Teal'c looked as foreboding as ever, staff weapon hefted in his right hand. Jack cocked his head in approval at that – these days the jaffa usually opted for a P90, but the staff weapon would prove infinitely more valuable on this mission due to its intimidation factor. Sam clipped her own gun to her vest and came to join Jack, nodding at him in greeting.

"Where's Daniel?" Jack asked. Sam shrugged.

Hammond appeared in the control room to see them off, just as Daniel came jogging into the Gateroom, panting slightly. "Sorry. Got held up." He apologized, and Jack nodded at Harriman up in the control room.

"Starting dialing sequence." The sergeant announced. The gate sprang to life, steam hissing out of the side as the inner ring began to spin.

"Everyone clear on the mission objectives?" Jack asked the three people around him.

"Get them to admit their involvement in the time loops?" Daniel offered.

"Get them to _stop_ the time loops." Jack corrected. "Whatever it takes."

"Sir –" Sam started to protest.

"Ah! No, Carter. Having the timeline continue is infinitely more valuable than the friendship of people like _that_. Screw the alliance."

"Would it not be prudent to begin with a more diplomatic approach, and progress to force only if necessary?" Teal'c asked coolly.

Jack glared at him. "We already tried that. It didn't work"

"Still –" Daniel started.

"No. We're doing this my way." With that, Jack turned away and stared at the gate, as the last chevron span into place.

"Chevron seven locked." Harriman announced, as the wormhole kawooshed towards them, before settling back into its more placid pool in the gate.

"SG-1, Godspeed." Hammond said into the microphone in the control room.

Jack looked back at him and nodded. "Alright kids, lets move out." He said, and marched up the ramp and through the gate.

* * *

Jack stepped out of the gate, and stopped short in surprise. A split second later Daniel crashed into him from behind, yelping indignantly and pushing him forward out of the way as Sam and Teal'c arrived. If Jack had been paying attention to anything other than the sight in front of him, he would have heard the gasps of Sam and Daniel and felt it as all three of his teammates stopped moving to stare.

Instead of the bleak, dry, brown landscape he'd come to expect of the Grevian homeworld, Jack found himself standing in a lab, with smooth white walls as cool as marble. The location, however, was not nearly as surprising as what the room contained. The Chancellor stood directly in front of them, smiling, as though he'd been expecting them. Behind him, were four pallets – like surgical tables in a hospital operating room. And on them, dressed in familiar green uniforms and black combat vests, were themselves.

Sam stepped forward to get a better look, fascinated. "Are they clones?"

The chancellor smiled at her. "No my dear. They are you."

She whipped her head round to stare at him, trying to understand the meaning of that.

"What have you done?" Jack asked in a low, measured voice, his eyes staring straight into those of the Chancellor.

The Chancellor smiled, and after a pause, answered. "I have enabled you to save the woman you love."

Jack twitched uncomfortably; beside him, Sam turned bright red.

"You caused the time loops." It wasn't a question. Jack didn't allow his face to betray any emotion, afraid of what he might give away if he did.

The Chancellor cocked his head. "In a manner of speaking. However, as you can see, _you_ are still here." He indicated the beds behind him.

Daniel wandered over to the table with his own body on it, and poked it experimentally. "He … _we're _still alive." He informed the others.

"Did you cause the time loops, or not?" Jack was rapidly losing his temper.

"We did not cause time loops." The Chancellor answered, obediently.

"So what _did _you do?" Jack shot back.

"_She _knows." The Chancellor looked absurdly proud as he turned to look at Sam. The Major was walking slowly towards their prone bodies, a frown crinkling her forehead.

Jack stared at her. "Carter?"

She slowly turned to look at the Chancellor. "You said that _they_" she pointed to the prone bodies "are us. And that you didn't cause time loops, but that _in a manner of speaking _you did. We're …" she stopped, almost smiling as she figured it out. "We're not really here, are we? This isn't really happening in the physical world."

"Yes! You have it!" The Chancellor exclaimed happily, clapping his hands together.

"Carter? What the hell is going on?" Jack barked.

She walked towards him, and stopped right in front of him. "We're unconscious, but our minds are in some kind of virtual reality."

"Like when that race of people living in a virtual reality made me and Jack live through painful moments of our lives." Daniel said, catching on. He turned to the Chancellor. "He's like the Keeper. You show us what you want us to see."

"He's been showing you the same day, over and over again, to give you an opportunity to figure out how to stop Ba'al." Sam continued. "What I don't know is why only you were made aware of the repetitions." She said to Jack.

"He is the one who leads. He is the one who loves. _He_ must be the one to learn, to endure, and to save you." The Chancellor answered softly, still smiling. "You may awaken now. You have what you need to save."

* * *

Jack blinked his eyes open, then shut them tight again when a bright light pierced his retina. _Here we go again_, he thought. He determinedly blinked his eyes open, before Dr. Fraser could say anything.

Except she wasn't there. And either the SGC had undergone some major redecorating, or this wasn't the infirmary. He sat up hurriedly, pulling the wires away from his forehead in irritation when they held him back. Looking to his left he saw Teal'c doing the same, and on his right Daniel and Carter were stirring. The Chancellor was nowhere to be seen.

"Teal'c, you alright?" Jack called over to the jaffa quietly.

"I believe I am well, O'Neill."

Jack eased himself off the pallet he'd been laying on, and walked stiffly over to Daniel and Sam. "You kids ok?" He asked, patting Daniel on the shoulder as the younger man sat up. Daniel nodded, squinting, and fished his glasses out of his pocket. Sam was still blinking as her eyes adjusted to the light, and Jack leaned over her to remove the wires from her forehead, refusing to acknowledge the extra second he stole to stroke her hair away from her face. Wincing, she too sat up, and Jack turned his attention from the wellbeing of his teammates to the situation in general.

"Tell me you guys remember what just happened." He instructed them.

"Actually, I do." Daniel answered, looking confused. "Everything. All of the loops."

"As do I." Teal'c agreed. "It is most disconcerting."

Jack gaped at them. "_Now_ you remember? After all that time I wasted telling you all what was going on every single day, you remember it all?"

"You did a very good job of explaining the situation, and making sure we adjusted our approach to the problem based on what you had learned before." Sam said, trying to appease him. He turned to look at her with an indefinable expression in his eyes, and she felt a strange urge to take his hand and give it a reassuring squeeze, remembering their day at the zoo fondly. She fought to restrain the urge though, knowing she shouldn't base her emotions or reactions on how he acted around her that day. After all, he hadn't known she'd remember it.

"So what happens now?" Daniel asked, breaking the odd moment Jack and Sam were sharing.

"Now, we go and implement the plan we just made." Jack said with a sigh. "We save Carter, and kill Ba'al."

"How do we know on which day it will occur?" Teal'c asked.

"Tomorrow." The Chancellor's voice preceded him as he came through the door. "You are free to go. Be aware that it is approximately 2200 hours on your home world now, and the day you have been repeating, is tomorrow."

When they just stared at him and didn't move, he gestured at the door urgently. "Go! There are many things for you to organize. Go!"

They exchanged nervous looks, and obediently headed out the door. Before Jack could leave, the Chancellor caught his arm.

"Save her, and then be happy. Together." He whispered to him. Jack looked at him for a long moment, and then gave a stilted nod. The Chancellor nodded back, and then released his arm. "Go."

* * *

_Hope you liked it! Please review!_

_Beka_


	13. Operation: Get Ba'al

**_Fighting Time - part 13_**

_I know its short, and I know its been a while ... sorry! One more chapter after this, probably.  
_

* * *

Hammond was there to greet them as they came through the gate. "Colonel, how did it go? What did they request in the trade negotiations?"

"It doesn't matter sir, in fact I'm not even sure they happened. We need to talk. Now." Jack informed him as he walked briskly down the ramp.

Hammond nodded, a little surprised. "Briefing room in ten minutes."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Jack was pacing round the briefing room while the rest of his team sat nervously in their seats, General Hammond having been filled in on the bizarre turn of events on '874.

"Colonel, how can you be sure this was not an elaborate hoax?" Hammond asked, frowning skeptically. "I can accept that the Grevians have the technology to give you some sort of shared dream, but you're asking me to believe that they could somehow see into the future."

"Stranger things have happened." Daniel reasoned.

Sam shot him a disbelieving look. "Really? Stranger than a race of people developing the technology to accurately know the position and directional velocity of every particle of matter in the universe in order to predict the outcome of those movements over time?"

Daniel blinked at her for a second. "Well when you put it like that …"

Jack waved his hands impatiently. "How they know is beside the point. We've been given valuable intel and we should act on it. If the Grevians were wrong, the worst that happens is Carter spends a few weeks kicking her heels on the Alpha site. Best case scenario is we _kill_ Ba'al."

Hammond nodded, thinking. "Major, I want you packed and ready to go for an extended stay at the Alpha site by 0200. In the meantime Colonel, I want heightened security over the entire base, and I want a detailed mission plan for how to lay this trap."

As Sam and Jack nodded, Hammond rose from his seat. "Go."

* * *

A woman with fiery red hair, dressed in a sand-colored cloak, strode out of the Stargate on M69 337, towards the three male members of SG-1 who were waiting for her. "Colonel O'Neill, Dr Jackson, and Teal'c, I am Haeva of the Tok'ra. It is an honor to meet you."

Jack nodded stiffly. "You too. Is that the bomb?" He indicated the suitcase-sized case she had pulled through the gate behind her.

Haeva nodded. "It is. Tok'ra operatives within Ba'al's forces have leaked intelligence that your team, including Major Carter, are due to arrive on this world for a scheduled recon mission. Those same operatives have sent us a message confirming Ba'al's plans to block your access to the Stargate, and to use the ring transporters to surround and assassinate your team."

Daniel shifted uneasily. "He's going to block access to the Stargate? How?"

"He has sent some of his jaffa to a nearby world with the task of dialing this gate at the time he is due to arrive. With an incoming wormhole you will be unable to dial out." She informed them. "Do you still wish to proceed with this plan?" She clutched the handle of the bomb's case protectively.

"Yes, we do." Jack replied tersely, and firmly pulled the bomb out of her grasp.

She nodded. "Then I will wish you luck, and depart." She bowed, a gesture which Teal'c and Daniel returned, and then swiftly turned in a flurry of sandy canvas, and began to dial the gate.

Jack walked away, his teammates following in his wake, the bomb dragging behind them.

"So, where do you reckon those rings are?"

* * *

The plan went off without a hitch. Having located the ring platform in a clearing a short distance from the Stargate, they placed the bomb in the centre, and waited. After a tedious two hour wait, Teal'c radioed Jack and Daniel at the ring site and informed them coolly that the gate was being dialed. After allowing the incoming wormhole to remain open for five minutes, Jack set the bomb on a thirty second timer, and Daniel activated the rings. They stood back and watched as the rings shot up out of the ground and surrounded the bomb in white light, before beaming it upwards through the sky above. Twenty-five seconds later, they were rewarded with a fantastic light show as the ship which had previously been invisible to the naked eye in the daylight, exploded in space above the planet. Jack slapped Daniel on the back happily, a smirk plastered firmly on his face as he contemplated Ba'al's demise.

He should have known it wouldn't be that easy.

"O'Neill, I require assistance." Teal'c called through the radio shortly after the light show ended. Without hesitation Jack and Daniel sprinted back towards the gate, Jack yelling into his radio as he ran.

"What is it, T?"

"Company, O'Neill. Fourteen jaffa have come through the Stargate and are establishing a perimeter. My position has been compromised and I am being persued."

They heard the sound of staff blasts in the distance. Daniel shot an alarmed look at Jack, who instructed him to fall to the ground with a hand gesture. They hit the deck just in time, as a staff blast went soaring over their heads. Jack knelt and aimed a torrent of bullets in the direction of the blast, and was rewarded with the sound of several jaffa crying out in pain. They moved forward slowly, keeping low to the ground, and soon had a visual on the gate. It had shut down, finally, but ten jaffa guarded it. Jack squatted behind a tree and fished around in his vest for a flash-bang grenade. Daniel's eyes widened in alarm.

"What if that affects us?" He hissed. Jack answered with a shake of his head, and mouthed '_It won't. Be ready.'_

He pulled the pin, and threw it as far as he could into the huddle of jaffa, before dropping back behind the tree and covering his ears, squeezing his eyes tight. The explosion was excruciatingly loud, and white light tore it's way through his eyelids for a second, and then it was gone, and there was just silence. Jack poked his head around the tree, and, satisfied that the jaffa were all out cold, reached for his radio.

"Teal'c, we've secured the gate, what's you position?"

"I am here, O'Neill." The voice came from mere feet away and made both men jump in surprise. Jack glared up at his friend who had suddenly appeared to loom over them.

"Don't _do_ that!" Jack admonished, and used the tree to pull himself up off the ground, before offering a hand to help Daniel up.

"Did you get them all?" Daniel asked, a little louder than strictly necessary. _He didn't plug his ears firmly enough_, Jack thought with a wince.

"Indeed." Teal'c replied with a slight smile.

"Good." Jack patted him on the shoulder. "Let's get out of here before those fellas wake up, shall we?" He jerked a thumb at the ten unconscious jaffa by the gate. Daniel made a beeline for the DHD, and they dialed home.

* * *

_Hope you liked it!_

_Beka =D  
_


	14. Waiting

_**Fighting Time - part 14**_

_This is it! The final chapter! I'm sorry it took me so long to write it, but I do hope you enjoy it. Please review!**  
**_

* * *

Sam sighed, and drummed her clipped fingernails on the table-top. Waiting sucked. Waiting at the Alpha site while one's teammates were off engaging the enemy, literally luring a powerful enemy towards them, and being unable to help them, sucked more. She wanted something to do. Or some news, that would do.

"I'm sure they'll be fine, Sam. They've done this dozens of times before." Jacob Carter attempted to reassure his daughter, and only earned himself a glare.

"Not without me. What if something goes wrong? What if the bomb doesn't go off, or they need back-up, or there's a problem with the Stargate?" She argued, aware as she said it that she sounded a little hysterical and irrational.

"You think they can't manage to pull it off without you?" Her father asked, in that condescending tone only a father can master. Sam sighed again, and started pacing. Jacob shook his head and returned his attention to the report he was writing. "If you want something to do, Malek's working on an idea for an iris and IDC system similar to the SGC's. I'm sure he'd appreciate some help." He suggested.

Sam shrugged. "Fine. See you later."

She was half-way across the compound, when the Stargate started dialing.

"Incoming wormhole!" A jaffa she didn't recognize yelled, and signaled for the nine or ten armed jaffa at the gate to take defensive postitions. She jogged to the SGC comm. station, hovering behind the marine manning the radio board.

The wormhole opened, the vortex billowing outwards before settling back into the event horizon. The seconds passed, with no communication and no incoming travelers.

"Come on…" She muttered under her breath, willing something to happen.

"_Alpha site, this is General Hammond of the SGC, come in please."_ Hammond's reassuring voice erupted out of the comm. station with a rush of static.

"This is the Alpha site, go ahead SGC." The marine spoke into the microphone, depressing the transmitter button while he spoke.

Another pause, and then the General's voice again. "_Please inform Major Carter that SG-1's mission was a success, and she is clear to return to the SGC_."

Sam broke into a smile, and felt her father's hand slap her on the shoulder and then his arm encircle her. "What did I tell you?" He muttered into her ear just before she reached for her own radio.

"This is Carter sir. I'll dial home in ten minutes."

"_See you soon, Major. Hammond out."_

The wormhole blinked out, and Sam turned to her father with a smirk on her face. "Thanks for putting up with me Dad. I know I was getting on your nerves."

"You were worried about your team. It's perfectly understandable." He gave her a hug, and patted her on the back. "Come on, let's get your gear so you can go home."

* * *

SG-1 were waiting for her in the gate-room when Sam got back to the SGC. She smiled at them as she walked down the ramp towards them, unclipping her MP5 as she went. "So …?"

"Ba'al's toast." Jack said with a tiny smirk.

"A dead false God?" Sam asked, grinning at Teal'c.

"Indeed." He replied, bowing his head to her.

"Excellent." She said, in a flawless impersonation of her CO impersonating Mr Burns. He grinned in appreciation, while Daniel rolled his eyes.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Jack suggested, herding them all out of the gate-room. For the first time in a long time, he felt like celebrating.

* * *

Jack spent most of that evening surreptitiously watching Sam. The team had gathered at his house, drinking beer (or ginger ale in Teal'c case), and letting the tension of the last god knows how long drain away. It felt good to watch her smile, see her banter with Teal'c, and tease Daniel, without the dreaded fear that at any moment she'd be taken from them. She was safe, at least as safe as any of them were, and he'd blown up the bastard snake-head Ba'al himself. Of course, he'd have much preferred a more personal, intimate, face-to-face assassination, but Ba'al was dead so who was he to be picky?

He realized with a start that she was looking at him - she'd caught him staring. _D'oh_. He stood up, excusing himself to get another beer, and retreated to the safety of the kitchen. Of course, he should have known better than that – she followed him, and a second later heard her stop in the doorway, her eyes drilling holes in his back.

"You need something Carter?" He asked, going for casual and only achieving strained.

"Sir –" she started, but stopped herself, frowning. He turned to face her, and she met his gaze hesitantly, before looking away and leaning back against his kitchen counter, twisting her hands self-consciously.

He sighed, and scrubbed his face with his hands. He was too tired to have this conversation now, but it seemed like she needed it. He walked over to her, and took her arm in a loose hold. "Come on." He led her out of the house, out to his back deck. If Daniel and Teal'c noticed, they didn't follow or comment.

Jack leaned against the wooden railing, staring out at the stars. "That day at the zoo, I thought you wouldn't remember." He started, after a few moments of silence in the cool evening air.

Sam sighed silently and closed her eyes briefly, reminding herself that she'd started this conversation. She moved forward to stand next to him, looking out at his dark backyard and the trees beyond. "You were taking a loop off." She said, as a prompt for him to continue.

"Yeah, I was." He squinted at the darkness, not at all sure what she wanted to hear from him. "I'm sorry I made you go to Janet to get sedated on your own that day."

"Daniel was there." She reassured him.

"But I should have been there too." He said, a quiet statement of fact. "I was there when it happened. Daniel came and got me."

Sam looked round at him in surprise. "Thank you." She whispered.

Jack winced, his guilt not letting him take the thanks. "I should have figured it out quicker. You shouldn't have had to die that many times. You shouldn't have to remember dying that many times."

A sharp intake of breath let him know he'd hit a sore spot. A quick glance revealed she was staring straight ahead, her face determinedly fixed into a blank expression that didn't give anything away – or at least that was the intention. He'd used that particular expression too many times himself not to know what was going on beneath the surface.

"It was worse for you." She whispered after a moment. "I didn't remember it each time the day reset – you had to deal with the responsibility of fixing it all on your own. I don't know how I'd have coped with being helpless to stop you from being killed over and over again."

The conversation was starting to hit a little too close to home for his comfort, images of Ba'al's fortress and shifting centers of gravity flitting through his head. He opted for the safe ground – reassurance.

"Well, it's over now. Ba'al's dead."

Sam nodded silently, but clearly wasn't entirely buying the satisfied act he was putting on. Jack felt like hitting something. They were tiptoeing round the real issue as effectively as always, but this time it wasn't enough for either of them. He'd watched the woman he loved die in awful ways so many times, helpless to save her, and she'd seen him slowly fall apart at the reality that he couldn't stop it. They'd had one wonderful, if bittersweet, day at the zoo together, which wasn't supposed to have been remembered – wasn't really supposed to have happened. Now, he was dying to hold her and tell her how it had killed him to lose her, and how happy he was that she was going to be ok. Meanwhile, she was dying to take his pain away, and to let herself be wrapped in his arms while he told her that it was going to be ok – no one was going to suddenly appear at her side and slit her throat. It hurt, both of them, the things they couldn't say.

"And hey, maybe, one day, we can go to the zoo again." He offered quietly, looking at her so intensely that she felt a little weak. She smiled slightly, knowing exactly what he meant – and knowing it was as close as they were going to get to saying all the things they wanted to.

"I'd like that." She took a deep breath, and shifted ever so slightly closer into his side, both taking comfort in the small contact, reveling in it, before, inevitably, they would have to go back inside, and go back to waiting for one day.

End


End file.
